Firstly: Heath Ledger’s performance in The Dark Knight really was as awesome as everyone has been saying. He was by far my favorite part of the movie. My only complaint about him was that I, at times, felt really distracted by his make-up, but I think that has a lot to do with my experience as a make-up artist. I couldn’t stop thinking about how it had been done (pretty simply, I think). But really- he was amazing. His performance was inspired (by Sid Vicious and a Clockwork Orange, in fact- or so I read). What an idiot.

Of course, Cole will NOT be seeing that movie for a long, LONG time. Like, maybe 15.5 years. Y’know- when I have no legal say over what he does.

Secondly, and on to a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT subject: Cooking!

I love to cook. Except when I don’t. Like recently when it’s been hot (we don’t use our air conditioning) all of the time and I’ve been tired more often than that.

We’ve been relying on burritos, super-nachos, and Boboli pizza A LOT, to my shame.

However, the other night I wanted to try something new. I knew we had fresh veggies, and I wanted something light and healthy. Without consulting any cookbooks (difficult for me with my “Type A,” rule-following personality), I whipped this out:

Tube of Polenta (Looks like a tube of sausage meat, but is actually dense polenta. Found in regular grocery stores in the “health/vegetarian food” section with the fake meat and soy cheese, at least around here. In the store I go to, it’s in the produce department.)

Feta Cheese

Butter/Olive Oil

Basil

Steps:Stir-fry your sliced veggies. For mine, I put in the onion first, followed pretty shortly by the zucchini. I let them cook until they were really nice and caramely-brown, and then I threw in the cubed pepper for just a short time.

While they’re going, slice as many disks of polenta off of the tube as you’d like. Heat a little olive oil or butter (or a combination) in a pan, and lightly brown the polenta on both sides. When finished, sprinkle the crumbled feta over the disks while they’re still in the warm pan.

To plate, spoon a pile of the quinoa onto the plate, veggies on top of that, and cheese-covered polenta after that. Top off with a sprinkle of thinly-sliced basil. Serve with a fresh, green salad on the side. YUM.

I even forgot the salt and pepper and this was great. It went together quickly, didn’t take any tricky ingredients, didn’t heat up the kitchen much to make, and made me feel very good eating it. Cole wouldn’t eat it but… whatever. The kid doesn’t eat anything I serve him anymore. It’s not like he’s starving…